William Saliba and Mikel Arteta of Arsenal (Photo by Yong Teck Lim, Harry Murphy/Getty Images)
Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta has opened up about whether or not he felt nerves during talks with William Saliba over his future.
The France international is set to sign a new contract with the Gunners, in what is obviously a huge boost for the club and great work by sporting director Andrea Berta.
Arteta, speaking at his press conference on Friday, however, also admitted that he would have questioned the entire project if Saliba didn’t want to stay.
The Spanish tactician is glad it never came to that, but it seems he did have some worries about the Saliba situation while it remained unresolved.
Watch below for Arteta’s answer at his press conference…
? Mikel Arteta discusses if he ever got “nervous” about keeping hold of William Saliba…? pic.twitter.com/44HDTDm0Eg
— CaughtOffside (@caughtoffside) September 26, 2025
Mikel Arteta on William Saliba staying at Arsenal
“What we want is to have our best players,” he said.
When asked about “nerves” in dealing with Saliba, he added: “I don’t know if that’s the right words.
“What you are hoping is that when you make the decision that you want to extend the player’s contract and life with the club, that they feel the same way.
“If suddenly you feel this is not happening I think you need to question the whole process again. Because I don’t think that’s a good starting point for anything that you want to build.
“We didn’t have to go through that because he was very clear, Willie, that he wanted to stay with us.”
Saliba has been one of Arsenal’s best players since coming into the first-team in the 2022/23 season, forming a rock-solid central defensive partnership with Gabriel Magalhaes.
Losing the 24-year-old would have been a huge blow that would undoubtedly have been very challenging to recover from, so fans and everyone involved with Arsenal will be delighted that he’s set to extend his stay at the Emirates Stadium.
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